


Fall of the Stars

by RedBloodTea



Series: The Stars Shine Brighter [1]
Category: Original Work
Genre: Action/Adventure, Backstory, Choices, Fantasy, Gen, Magic-Users, Magical Artifacts, Magical Creatures, Nonbinary Character, Old Gods, Princes & Princesses, Prophecy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-15
Updated: 2020-09-15
Packaged: 2021-03-06 20:53:54
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 648
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26485216
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RedBloodTea/pseuds/RedBloodTea
Summary: In this world, magic was given to the land via the stars, a set of rivers, and a particularly sly old fox.*****This is a prologue for the rest of the stories, like a little myth on how magic came to be here.
Series: The Stars Shine Brighter [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1925446





	Fall of the Stars

The stars tell us many things about the world, little ones. They can tell us where we are, what season it is, when to plant, when to harvest. But there is a skill some possess that they can get from the stars.  
What is it, Mistress?  
Magic. Magic, pulled from the light of the stars and the wonders around us. Magic the can be used for great and terrible things! Fire that can burn down forests, lightning that can kill a giant, ice so cold it could crack your bones in two, winds that can cut through mountains! But it can also be used for smaller things. To catch a bigger fish than usual, to make your pie taste delicious. To make it so you water is clean and your milk never sours.  
How did we get magic, Mistress?  
Well, many centuries ago, the stars started falling one night.  
Falling?  
Yes, little ones, falling. And as lights streaked through the sky, a woman left her house. No one knows why, but the stories say that the lights so enchanted her, that she felt she had to leave her home. So, as she walked, she found a stream the color of starlight, and one the color of the sun.  
"Pick a path," said the old fox who suddenly appeared beside her.  
"But they are both beautiful, I can not decide," she started to weep then, wishing the choice between silver and gold was simpler.  
The fox, a rather stately fellow with proud diamond eyes, huffed at her.  
"Dry your tears, foolish one. It is simple to pick a path." He kept in front of her to stand in between the two streams, and gave her a sharp smirk.  
"Do you go left," he dipped a spearhead gray paw into the golden liquid, "Or do you go right." He gently lapped up a little of the starlight colored waters.  
"What will I find at the end of each path?" the woman questioned.  
The fox gave her a sly grin and said, "That depends on you, foolish one. At one end, your hearts desire." He nods to the golden stream, and then to the silver one. "And at the other end, what you think the world needs."  
"What is the price for each path?" The woman asked. For while she was no great beauty, she was clever and wise and knew that nothing that great came free.  
The fox looked at her for a moment, then nodded. "At the end of the River of Sun, you will find great happiness, but only for a short time. At the end of the River of Stars, you will only find misery as long as you live, as well as for all your descendants."  
The woman turned to the River of Sun, but she did not follow it. She instead turned right, and walked along the path of starlight, to the great power she knew lie beyond the trees.  
The fox turned his elegant head towards the crooked and broken tree, which had once been shattered by lightning and was held together by vines.  
"I told you," the fox said to the tree, sounding annoyed. "Humans never change."  
The tree creaked slightly in the wind, an apologetic sound.  
The silver creature huffed, and said grudgingly, "Not your fault."  
Then, the fox and the tree both turned into stars, joining the sky as they watched the world of men change forever.  
But these to gods, and gods they were, forgot something. They forgot that, while humans never change, they also never deviate from the patterns set before. And that after an evil is unleashed, a hero will come. And when the cycle begins anew, it happens again and again until there is peace. They forgot that, while humans never change, they always find a peace in the end. And they always set things a right.


End file.
